I’ll also be conducting interviews with philosophers who also actively work in one or more of the various Arts (or actively engage in the artistic practices thereof). The idea here is that in virtue of their being uniquely situated between the two worlds of art and philosophy, they are able to offer valuable insights into both, as well as to how work in one might figure for work in the other.To this end, I’ve thus far confirmed the following stellar line-up of Philosopher-Artists (official schedule coming soon):

Carrie Ichikawa Jenkins: The Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, Professorial Fellow of the Northern Institute of Philosophy, and member of the musical group The 21st Century Monads (more info here).

Keith Lehrer:Regent’s Professor (emeritus) of Philosophy at the University of Arizona, Research Professor of Philosophy at the University of Miami, and active painter & performance artist (more info here).

For Awesome Things to Come #1 go here.In addition to featuring guest posts from various philosophers working or with interests in Philosophical Aesthetics,I’ll also be conducting and featuring interviews with established artists and critics from across the Arts. The idea here is to help bridge the gulf between The Artist and The Philosopher of Art by actively engaging these artists about the various philosophical aspects of their artworks as well as the extent to which they might take such issues to figure in the production, appreciation, or evaluation of those works. To this end, I have thus far confirmed the following utterly fantastic and star-studded line-up of Artists (official schedule coming soon):

Kyle Killen: Film & Television writer and producer and the author of the screenplay for the 2011 film The Beaver (2011) and the writer/creator of the critically acclaimed 2012 television series Awake (more info here).

Matthew Kadane: Musician and founding member of the indie rock bands Bedhead & The New Year (more info here & here).

David Orr: Award winning New York Times Book Review poetry critic and author of Beautiful & Pointless: A Guide to Modern Poetry (more info here).

In addition to posting my own philosophical ruminations and commentary on Aesthetics-related goings-on in the profession, I’ll be providing a forum for philosophers at various career stages to talk about their work/interests in Aesthetics & Philosophy of Art. To this end, I’ve thus far confirmed the following truly spectacular line-up of guest bloggers (official schedule coming soon):

My heartiest congratulations to the programming committee for the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Aesthetics (Oct. 30th-Nov. 2nd, San Diego) as they’ve managed to put together not just a fantastic program (a draft of which can be found here) but quite frankly one of the strongest ASA conference programs I’ve ever seen. The Panel Line-Up alone features a dizzing array of philosophical talent both from within Philosophical Aesthetics and from without. Check out the following examples of Panelized Philosophical Bad-Assery (**starting with the obvious show-stopper**):

Below is the full CFP from the newly launched Ergo, An Open Access Journal of Philosophy, where I serve as area editor for Aesthetics & Philosophy of Art submissions. I think the addition of another top-flight open access philosophy journal (a la Philosophers’ Imprint) is great news for the philosophy profession and given Ergo‘s generalist aims, likewise great news for philosophical aesthetics by promising a great mainstream venue for high quality work in our field. I enthusiastically encourage you to consider submitting your work to Ergo.

**NOTE: There is a special place in hell reserved for philosophers who refuse referee requests from open access journals.**

Ergo CFP

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ergo Ergo is a general, open access philosophy journal accepting submissions on all philosophical topics and from all philosophical traditions. This includes, among other things: history of philosophy, work in both the analytic and continental traditions, as well as formal and empirically informed philosophy.Ergo uses a triple-anonymous peer review process and aims to return decisions within two months on average.Ergo is published by MPublishing at the University of Michigan and sponsord by the Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto. Papers are published as they are accepted; there is no regular publication schedule.To submit a paper, please register and login to Ergo’s editorial management system at:http://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ergo/indexSubmitted manuscripts should be prepared for anonymous review, containing no identifying information. Submissions need not conform to the journal style unless and until accepted for publication.Submission and publication is free, but the journal essentially depends on the support of reliable reviewers returning informative reports in a timely manner. We hope that you will consider acting as referee for Ergo if asked by one of its editors. We also hope that you will consider submitting your work to Ergo.Please share this call for papers with your colleagues!Managing EditorsFranz Huber (University of Toronto)Jonathan Weisberg (University of Toronto)ergo.editors@gmail.comSection EditorsRachael Briggs (Australian National University & Griffith University)Eleonora Cresto (University of Buenos Aires)Vincenzo Crupi (University of Turin)Imogen Dickie (University of Toronto)Catarina Dutilh-Novaes (University of Groningen)Kenny Easwaran (University of Southern California)Matt Evans (University of Michigan)Laura Franklin-Hall (New York University)Ole Hjortland (LMU Munich)Michelle Kosch (Cornell University)Antonia LoLordo (University of Virginia)Christy Mag Uidhir (University of Houston)Julia Markovits (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)Lionel McPherson (Tufts University)Jennifer Nagel (University of Toronto)Jill North (Cornell University)Brian O’Connor (University College Dublin)Laurie A. Paul (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)Richard Pettigrew (Bristol University)Martin Pickavé (University of Toronto)Adam Sennet (University of California at Davis)Nishi Shah (Amherst College)Quayshawn Spencer (University of San Francisco)Ásta Sveinsdóttir (San Francisco State University)Robbie Williams (University of Leeds)Wayne Wu (Carnegie Mellon University)Jiji Zhang (Lingnan University)

call for papers

Printmaking and Philosophy of Art

Submission on any philosophical treatment of printmaking are welcome, but papers addressing these topics are especially welcome:

Is printmaking an essential part of the art-historical narrative, Western or otherwise?

What are the implications of the relationship between print artists and master printers for issues of authorship and artistry?

What are the descriptive or evaluative implications of the practices of editioning, proofing, or plate striking?

What are the implications of printmaking practices for print ontology–whether prints are best construed as repeateable works, single-instance works, or something else entirely?

How do issues of originality or authenticity for printmaking compare to those for other forms of visual art?

What are the implications qua art (if not also qua print) of digital prints (for example, laser C-prints or inkjet Giclée prints)?

Submissions should not exceed 7,000 words and must comply with the general guidelines for submissions (see “Submissions” on the JAAC page on the American Society for Aesthetics website:www.aesthetics-online.org). Anytime after February 15, 2013, upload submissions to the JAAC online submission website, http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jaac, making sure they are identified as submissions for the special issue.

Deadline for Submission: 15 January 2014

***UPDATED 07/31. I encourage readers to continue to send suggestions.***

Lamarque & Olsen’s Aesthetics & The Philosophy of Art: The Analytic Tradition is arguably the best general anthology in Contemporary Anglo-American Aesthetics. Unfortunately, this anthology distinguishes itself yet another way by having only 2 of its 46 articles written by women (in fact, the very same woman as it turns out). A friend of mine teaching philosophy of art for the first time recently discovered this and asked me to suggest some articles written by women with which to supplement the anthology. I’ve copied the list I sent him below so that it might be a useful resource for others in similar situations. I welcome and actively encourage readers to suggest additions in the comments section at which point I’ll update the list accordingly. However, please note that my interest lies with maximizing the number of distinct female authors rather than the number of distinct female-authored works.

**UPDATED**What follows is an assessment of the professional state of Aesthetics with respect to faculty research at Leiter Ranked Programs in the United Kingdom. I counted only permanent faculty and so excluded visiting, emeritus, as well as affiliated faculty. Finally, faculty were counted according to two conditions which I’ve explained below (AOS, Primary). The full program/faculty list can be found at the link provided. Again, please inform me of any omissions or mistakes, as I no doubt made a few.

The AOS Condition:

Faculty must have (at least as indicated on department website or CV) an AOS in Aesthetics.

The Primary Condition:

Faculty must have an AOS in Aesthetics.

Faculty must work primarily within Aesthetics (i.e., have a primary research program in/commitment to Aesthetics or to have one’s body of work reasonably suggest as much).

Despite its rather poor showing stateside, Aesthetics appears to be alive and well (if not outright flourishing) in the United Kingdom.

Given my unfamiliarity with UK academic ranks, I refrained from making any junior/senior distinction (or whatever the UK equivalent might be). That said, I suspect a cursory glance at the UK programs to reveal several early career folks at the Primary level.

Aesthetics may well have a bright future, I just may need a passport to see it.